New Yarmouth RA Rum 2009

This is a high-ester New Yarmouth, a 2009 vintage from the Jamaican distillery increasingly prized for funky pot still rum, selected by the respected German bottler Rum Artesanal, whose legal name Heinz Eggert appears on the label. New Yarmouth is one of the island's emerging cult names, and this release sits in the bottler's unsweetened, full-proof single-cask tradition, matured in ex-bourbon oak.

The funk is loud and clear. The nose is all ester, glue, pineapple and tropical fruit, the palate carries that ester-driven fruit alongside ripe banana, marzipan and cookie dough, and the finish turns barrel-edged, bitter and salty. Those solvent and overripe-fruit notes are the heart of the high-ester style, the positive side of Jamaican funk. At 65.7% it is wild and intense yet surprisingly well integrated for its strength, milder and more complex than some of its siblings. One for drinkers who already love Hampden or other high-ester Jamaicans and want a saltier, fruit-driven New Yarmouth at full power.